The study intends to shed light on how teachers in the subject sloyd, both within textile- and wood- and metal sloyd, relate to gender in their intentions and in their action in school practice and the possible discrepancy in between. Furthermore, the study aims to investigate how the historical legacy of gender coding in sloyd affect teachers in today’s education. The study is based on a qualitative research perspective, and could therefore be placed in the humanities with further delineation didactics. Furthermore, the study is fully encompassed by the hermeneutic doctrine, when the author’s prior understanding as prospective sloyd teachers affects the study. Gender Theoretical models and concepts by Yvonne Hirdman and Britt-Marie Thurén is used in the study as an analytical tool for understanding the discrepancy between intention and action realized in the sloyd classroom. The study includes six active sloyd teachers that have been observed and subsequently interviewed on sloyd and gender. The study shows five possible gender orders in the sloyd classroom and informants of the study can be classified to two of them. The study also shows that teachers relate to the historical legacy of gender coding in different ways in their sloyd teaching. Most sloyd teachers relate to this legacy by not acknowledging it, but rather sharing it with students in passing. Students' creativity, motor skills and problem solving are keywords for the abilities the informants want to see that students develop in sloyd.

The chief aim of this thesis is to explore aesthetic aspects of the Swedish school subject of sloyd. The research questions are: What do young people tell about sloyd? What aesthetic resources do they use? How can one describe the relation between what young people tell about sloyd and the aesthetic resources they use? A narrative approach was chosen to learn about activities and attitudes concerning aesthetic matters among young people in the 9th form in lower secondary schools. The empirical study was carried out in three schools including qualitative interviews and visual ethnography mainly considering the learner’s point of view. Findings are represented through story constructions and photographs. Ten stories depict aesthetic and thereto related aspects of which five stories are based on individuals and another five are thematic. Stories and photos were analyzed using an integration of aesthetic, narrative and semiotic methods. Structures of meaning making were identified using three concepts: expressions, personal project, and dynamic process. The results show that aesthetic deliberation in sloyd work is a major issue among young people. Concerns are often based on personal circumstances, such as taste and preference. Aesthetic considerations in the pupils’ sloyd work were found to be directed towards the one’s own room, relations to family members, and/or plans for future engagement in aesthetic related professions. The results confirm that aesthetic expression in sloyd work may be a way for pupils to reflect upon and develop their personalities. I have also shown that sloyd may be a way to represent narrative instances. A second aim is to develop theoretical concepts in the field of aesthetic learning in sloyd. I argue that an aesthetic aspect alone cannot satisfy the concept of aesthetic learning. Therefore the aesthetic learning concept in my study is generated from aesthetic, configurative (cf. gestaltung) and creative aspects, thus forming an integrated aesthetic perspective. Aesthetic objectives were analyzed using Bakhtin’s systemic aesthetics, which identified architectonic instances in sloyd materials and sloyd design supporting narrative elements in sloyd artefacts. Finally I propose a model for narrative understanding of artefacts based on the theoretical concepts mediation and focalization.

Grundat i att det i kommentarmaterialet till kursplanen i slöjd står att slöjdundervisningen ska bidra till att medvetandegöra elever om kulturarvet, vill vi med denna uppsats undersöka hur slöjdlärare uppfattar begreppet kulturarv i relation till skolslöjden samt om och i så fall hur deras uppfattningar gör att undervisningen skiljer sig åt i praktiken. Det empiriska underlaget för den kvalitativa studien är intervjuer med sex verksamma slöjdlärare i grundskolan, vilket analyserats utifrån fenomenologisk teori. Resultaten visar att det för lärarna inte är självklart exakt vad kulturarvet betyder, men att de generellt kopplar det till nationell identitet och den självkänsla som denna identitet förväntas frammana. Lärarna uttrycker att de ser att kunskap och medvetenhet om kulturarvet skapar en ökad känsla för dels vem man är, dels vem en kan bli och vara. Lärarna talar om vikten av att utgå från elevers erfarenheter i planering av undervisning. De menar att elevers förkunskaper, eller brist på dessa, resulterar i en balansgång i urval och avväganden i relation till undervisning för dem själva, men även är avgörande för elevers förutsättningar att tillgodogöra sig kunskaper genom slöjden. Vidare kopplar lärarna på olika men tydliga sätt ihop kulturarvet med hållbar utveckling och elevers förmågor att bemöta problem och utmaningar i både samtid och framtid. Lärarna ser hantverkstekniker som dels de förkunskaper elever tar eller inte tar med sig till slöjdundervisningen, dels som de kunskaper elever bör tillgodogöra sig för att kunna dra nytta av i framtiden. I det yttre ser upplägget för undervisningen i praktiken lika ut oavsett om lärarna uppfattar begreppet kulturarv personligt eller mer generellt. Studien visar trots detta att lärarnas personliga uppfattningar har inflytande på hur kulturarvet medvetandegörs i undervisning och att detta i sin tur spelar roll för hur väl elever lyckas i slöjden.

Sloyd is related to craft knowing, making traditions and materiality. The meaning of knowing in sloyd is vaguely articulated and thereby can be interpreted by teachers in different ways. This study aims at contributing to an articulation of craft knowing within sloyd education. The study was carried out in the form of two learning studies, each one focusing on a specific object of learning. The knowing of sawing straight was studied through phenomenographic analysis of video recordings of students’ work with handsaws in wood. Different ways of knowing this capability have been described. The second study focused on the knowing of interpreting symbols in sloyd objects. Different ways of perceiving this capability have been described through the learning study’s three iterative lesson interventions. The two objects of learning are discussed as pointing out different aspects of craft knowing in sloyd education. Craft knowing has been recognized as embodied thinking and interaction with tools and materials in order to achieve certain intentions (Dormer, 1994; Illum, 2004). It is often described as embedded in our actions (Polanyi, 1966) and manifested in specific actions: as knowing-in-action (Schön, 1983). Furthermore, it is multimodal and derives from practical knowledge traditions where dexterity, visuality and materiality are central modes of communication (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006). When engaging in sloyd activities one engages in different communal shared craft techniques and strives to obtain and express intended shapes, functions, lines, patterns and affiliations. To be able to say and make something in a ‘right way’ can be understood as a specific literacy (Gee, 2015). Some aspects of craft knowing are presented and discussed in terms of craft literacy: as embodied interactions with materials and tools in specific ways. These descriptions can contribute to our shared understanding of the meaning of craft knowing as well as the meaning of sloyd knowing.